To explore the mechanism of action of Solanum nigrum in the treatment of breast cancer based on network pharmacology and cellular experiments.The TCMSP database,Swiss-Target-Prediction and literature mining were used to collect seven active ingredients of S. nigrum.One hundred and ten target genes related to breast cancer were collected through the GeneCards database,and Cytoscape 3.8.0 software was used to construct the "drug-active-ingredient-target-disease" network.The potential targets were imported into the STRING 11.5 database to obtain the PPI network,and GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed on the potential targets using the DAVID Database.Go function enrichment analysis found 694 items.KEGG pathway enrichment analysis found 128 items (P < 0.05),involving cancer,PI3K/AKT,MAPK and other signaling pathways related to S. nigrum. Molecular docking of seven key active ingredients medioresinol,β-carotene,sitosterol,diosgenin,solanocapsine,cholesterol and quercetin from S. nigrum with potential targets AKT1,ESR1,EGFR,SRC,MAPK1,using AutoDock-vina 1.1.2 software.The molecular docking results showed that the predicted key component,diosgenin,showed good binding to the core targets,such as AKT1 and EGFR.The results showed that different concentrations of diosgenin inhibited the proliferation and promoted apoptosis of triple-negative breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231,and diosgenin regulated the expression of EGFR,AKT1 and p-AKT1 proteins,meanwhile diosgenin also down-regulated the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and up-regulated the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax.The above results suggest that the potential mechanism of action of S. nigrum against breast cancer may be related to the regulation of MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation and apoptosis,and through two key target genes AKT1 and EGFR.